24 Comments
User's avatar
Rob King's avatar

Thank you for the update, I enjoy reading your weekly commentary.

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

thank you Rob

Expand full comment
Darren Ager's avatar

Thanks for that comprehensive report. The turn is upon us !

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

Let's hope so Darren

Ta

Expand full comment
John Paul's avatar

Always a good read. Thanks for the posts. It gives me something to ponder over the weekend.

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

a pleasure

Expand full comment
Revs8's avatar

Another awesome insight. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

Thank you Revs8

Expand full comment
Chris Wood's avatar

Cheers Richard 👍🏻

Expand full comment
Martin walsh's avatar

Is there an easy way to search / be notified of director buys each day/ week rather than just look at every RNS each day? Would anyone here have any suggestions or recommendations of a platform website etc ?

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

I use Sharepad which filters them. I think it might b possible on https://www.investegate.co.uk/ but I always found it difficult searching on there

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

thanks for replying

Expand full comment
John Cutmore's avatar

Enjoyed the article - Plenty to ponder! I was intrigued on Kelso and wondered if any uncovered value since trading updates of companies held so went through the holdings. There seems to be a circa £1.8M difference between current assets of £10,393,536 in accounts and a total of £8,576,600 of current listed investments. I can see there was an equity raise in 2024 so wondered if this was the extra however there's only £118K cash and minimal receivables. I'm no analyst but wondered if you'd taken a look?

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

I haven't gone through all the assets. I bought because they have over 6% of WRKS and their holding has near doubled since the results. That has risen £1.5m since their results.

Selkirk is up 20%, adding £250k to their holding.

NCC is up about £250k

THG is down about £360k

ANG up £350k

So I figure they are up £2m from where they were at the F/y results. The market cap of KLSO has risen about 2.8m.

So compared to the results point the shares have risen at least pro-rata to any gain in value. I do think there is big potential growth from THG and Selkirk and the CEO buying 3.5m recently says I am likely missing something imo.

Expand full comment
John Cutmore's avatar

I read that Selkirk were trying to buy myProtein from THG but have so far been rebuffed. Offer was between £400-600m so serious stuff!

Can i ask when you lean in on something what size are the buckets in your portfolio? 5,10,20% etc?

I might be way off but RWS is down in the dumps and may form a bowl at some point. Might be some more near term pain but still very profitable. Just caught my eye on stocko today.

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

I used to restrict my holdings to a max of 5% many years ago but in the end you dilute your gains imo, Where I see big reward to risk ratios now I tend to go up to 15-20% in one position. Of course if they are illiquid small cap recoveries like WRKS, which has near one bagged since I first bought some recently, then I don't tend to go much over 15% buying in, because if they rally that fast they are soon 30%. A nice problem to have when that happens but it starts getting a bit volatile with one small cap illquid stock being 30%.

If I can find several great little growers and they grow together then it's easier to keep hold but doing that has been difficult in recent years with small caps being ignored.

I'll off at RWS, ta.

Expand full comment
Mark Beard's avatar

Thanks for yet another great report Richard. I went with 'Er Indoors' to Bracknell the other day and mystery shopped The Works as my other half is a real bookworm and she had never heard of the shop before. She loved the place and will be going back, I talked to a couple of staff members who were really happy working there - well compared to other places they had been. Obviously I wouldn't buy based on that experience alone but it added to the overall impression - anyway, have a great bank holiday.

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

Thanks Mark. Yep, trying one store and talking to the staff can only be anecdotal. But they have three prongs to the change in strategy.

Growing Brand Fame

Improving Customer Convenience

Being a Lean and Efficient Operator

The brand logo has changed recently

The website has definitely improved

The new store layout and look has definitely improved.

The leaner and more efficient part will show in the results hopefully.

All the best

Expand full comment
Stephen Ornstin's avatar

Another much appreciated and in depth weekly write up -thanks Rebel.

I’m interested in buying back into STAF but it’s recently gone up in a straight line.

I’d expect a pullback at some point - do you have a view?

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

Hi Stephen, it depends on the market but if the market stays firm I suspect any pull back will be shallow and short. On big non stop rallies, there are often many waiting to buy the dip. Such a rally says how cheap the stock looks. If the market stays firm, those waiting to catch the first pull back often don't want to miss it either, so impatience often means it doesn't retrace a lot.

My mantra when I've seen a steep sharp rally, clearly based on something big and value enhancing potentially is to 'buy the first dip'. If I think it's cheap I tend to watch for it and not be too greedy waiting for too much of a retrace, if I feel there's big gains to be had still and I definitely want in.

Nothing is ever that clear cut though, and nothing always goes the same. It's a tough call because we all value differently, but that's my thoughts.

Expand full comment
Stephen Ornstin's avatar

Yes I took some cury profit and topped up car last week 👍

Expand full comment
Stephen Ornstin's avatar

Cheers

It’s hard to know and with STAF it’s trying to break through the last high nearly a year ago. I wanted to see if it could break through that ceiling

Expand full comment
Cockney Rebel's avatar

yes, you need to watch past charts. I saw CAR getting bought swift when it broke the previous big high this week.

Expand full comment